On the whole I found this to be rather strange book in that author offers what seems to be a complete history of Confederate naval forces operating out of Savannah (the backbone of the narrative being the rise and fall of the ironclad "Atlanta") but offers nothing in the way of personal analysis or consideration of what he intended to achieve with this work or what he felt the whole exercise meant in the end. I can only speculate on what's the rationalization for the sphinx-like authorial silence. If one is already somewhat knowledgeable about the period and the topic there is much to be gained from wading in to this narrative, otherwise one would be better off starting with Luragi's history of the C.S.N. ( )